As a youngster, I would get home from School, get changed and go out to play with my pals.

Now I'm older, I get home from work, get changed and go out to play with my pals, but now I call it training.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Last post

Nearly done for 2011 then.
A good year it has to be said. Some good races, enjoyable runs, and my fastest times in many a year.

January - Just getting back into things following the few weeks layoff in Autumn '10, I had a decent enough race on the 1st at Nine Standards and then a few weeks later ran the Four Villages half marathon in exactly my anticipated time of 1hr 20min.

February was all about marathon training and the hilly 21 mile race over the lakeland passes. For something like a fourth year in a row I ran faster than the year before - good signs.

March was my holiday to the sun of Lanzarote and a lot of good training despite the horrendous wind most days.

April was the London Marathon - the climax of the previous 4 months training. It didn't go well at all. In the end I jogged home just inside the cutoff for automatic qualification for the 2012 race.

Keen top prove I was fighting fit and that the London result was NOT indicative of my true ability I entered the Keswick Half on 1st May. I got 1hr 22min and 10th place on this very hilly course and felt vindicated.

I spent the next few weeks training long in the hills for the Lakes 50 at the end of July. Again though I had a poor performance. A navigational error in the first quarter of the route and trouble eating led to my head going. I kind of gave up on the race and I ran the last 25 miles in good company so at least it was enjoyable if not the speed/time I had hoped for.

I minor setback in August meant missing the Dumfries 10k for a second successive year. I had planned to take a rest in September and stuck to my plan.

By October I was keen to train hard again and began a series of racing that almost proved too much.
Cross Country, a midweek half marathon, more XC, track sessions, rock hard 10 mile training runs.

On the first weekend of November I ran the Derwentwater 10 mile event. I knew I could beat the hour but then just prior to the start I said I admitted I was actually looking to run a 58. Despite having the heaviest legs ever I ran a mid 58 and was delighted. Two weeks later and a little more tapered I ran a long 56 at the Brampton 10 miler. Not delighted (I thought I could do a 55) but pleased with my fastest time for 6 years.

I then continued racing, 10k, XC etc, most weekends through until nearly Christmas. Crucially though, I didn't train at all in between the weekends racing, so I felt relatively fresh and able to race hard. The break from formal training did me good and I have enjoyed getting out in the daylight since finishing work for Christmas and have ran most days in the last week and a half.

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Years ago the only plan was to run as fast as possible. Some half decent times were achieved and a few races were won. Then, somewhere in the mid to late noughties I lost my way a little. I now endeavour to recapture the fitness of my past, though I suspect will never have quite the same speed.However, it seems age also brings wisdom and a newfound self belief that anything is possible if you want it badly enough (and also train very hard).

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……..first impressions suggest no more than a mundane training diary of an average marathon runner. But delve a little further and you will soon unearth a much deeper insight into the highs and lows of the athlete as he recounts tales of victory, of crushing defeat, and every emotion in between. Interspersed within the statistics and mileage counts is the odd gem of a musing so bizarre in its origin that one might wonder if the writers mindset is genius or madman. Then too will you find moments of true reflection, of life, of love, of friends, of the wisdom of age and the memories of youth. This irreverently witty view on sporting life in a backwater of Englands forgotten North brings the page alive in a way no paperback ever has or could.And the best news? Theres more to come…….